staples
English translation: regulated markets for certain goods
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| 18:35 Nov 2, 2011 |
| English language (monolingual) [PRO] Law/Patents - History / English law, parliamentary legislation, 14th century | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Charles Davis Spain Local time: 19:05 | ||||||
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| The Staple |
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Answers
11 mins confidence: 
central market towns (by royal charter) Explanation: "In that year, Edward the Second issued a charter to their mayor and council, empowering them to choose a city of Brabant, Flanders, or Artois, to be called the staple, whither all wools and leathers exported from England were to be taken for sale to such foreign dealers as chose to come for them. The idea of establishing a central market for the exchange of commodities had much to commend it... But the staple was made a royal plaything, and a means of royal extortion, and, therefore, a source of mischief. ... " Taken from: English Merchants: Memoirs in Illustration of the Progress of British Commerce By Henry Bourne (Google Books - see link) Reference: http://books.google.com/books?id=X2q-1nhq_IYC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA... |
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9 mins confidence:
Statute of the Staple Explanation: It refers to laws governing foreign trade - and Courts of Staple existed to settle disputes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_the_Staple -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 mins (2011-11-02 18:45:52 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- See also Chapter II (starts on p. 16) here: http://books.google.cl/books?id=7qjNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA2... -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 17 mins (2011-11-02 18:53:23 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- BTW: 'staple' in Asker's context refers to basic materials (wool, hides, etc.) and the word has survived into modern age in the expression 'staple foods'. |
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4 hrs confidence:
regulated markets for certain goods Explanation: The word "staple" had several related meanings in medieval England, and these need to be distinguished: 1. As indicated in the Wikipedia article cited by Liz, the staple (singular) was the system of regulating trade in certain goods, by royal command, obliging merchants to trade in certain places and pay duties to the crown. 2. So a staple was a market that operated under this system. That is really its etymological meaning: from Low German stapel, meaning a heap or pile, and by extension a store-house where goods were laid out for sale. 3. The Crown decreed that such certain goods could only be traded at such markets or staples, which were under royal control and required that the goods be displayed and inspected and duty paid on them. The Crown also dictated where such markets had to be held. The places where they were held, both in England and in the Low Countries, were called staple towns, or just staples. 4. The goods that were thus controlled and had to pass through the staple system at staple markets in staple towns were in turn known as staple articles, or staples. Somewhat later than this (1353) the system was regulated by the Statute of the Staple, enforced by the Courts of Staple. There are many useful sources on the Internet explaining these matters, some of which have already been cited in other answers. The following quotations, illustrating the points mentioned, are from a 1908 doctoral dissertation by Adaline L. Jenckes entitles The Origin, the Organization and the Location of the Staple of England, available in pdf format at http://ia600305.us.archive.org/21/items/originorganizati00je... : "A stapel was a heap or pile ; a store-house where goods were laid out in order; a mart.' In the documents of the fourteenth century the word evidently means a public market where foreign merchants were obliged to offer their goods for sale. [...] But this practice of creating in a certain town a monopoly of traffic, was not limited to the continent ; for in 1291, Edward I of England made provisions for a staple of wool, leather and skins to be held in each of sixteen towns within his dominions. In addition to these local staples in the Low Countries and in the British Isles there was, during almost the whole of the period which we are studying, a special Staple in some one of the continental towns, for the sale of English merchandise. [...] The Staple should be distinguished from the fair and from the weekly and monthly markets. One distinguishing characteristic is that while the latter were periodical, the Staple was continuous. This idea of its permanence comes out in the application of the word to the town itself where the Staple was held, which after a time was called a "staple town"; we hear also of the "staple laws," "staple merchandise" and "staple merchants" or "staplers." In every English town where there was a Staple, there were definite bounds within which it was held. If the town was walled, the Staple was bounded by the walls ; if unwalled, then it was coterminous with the town. The part of the town where it was held came also to be known as the "staple". [...] The merchandise which was sold in the English Staple consisted of the raw products of the realm, the chief of which were wool, wool-fells, leather, lead and tin. These were known as the "five great staple articles." Edward III added worsted cloth, feathers, cheese, butter, honey, osiers, peltries and tallow." What was abolished in April 1328 (by the statue 2 Edw. III c. 9) was obviously not the staple articles, nor the towns where staples were held, but the actual markets, or rather the royal regulation of those markets. This was a (temporary) gesture towards liberalisation of trade, allowing the goods that had been regulated by the staple to be traded freely without royal intervention. |
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21 hrs confidence:
The medieval system of trade and its taxation Explanation: The medieval system of trade and its taxation Following Liz's excellent lead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Staple |
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Reference comments
10 mins |
| Reference: The Staple Reference information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Staple It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Staple right. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2011. The Staple in English historiography, refers to the entire medieval system of trade and its taxation. Under this system, the government or King required that all overseas trade in certain goods be transacted at specific designated market towns or ports, referred to as the 'staple ports'. At these specified places, merchants, later to become Merchants of the Staple, were required to submit their goods to inspection, and to pay a levy to the Crown on goods for export to the continent of Europe. The system made it easy for the Crown to monitor the overseas trade and to levy taxes and derive income and revenue on it. Under the Staple, the designated port was often overseas. It was at Dordrecht in 1338, and at Bruges in 1343. For a time after 1353, staple ports were established in England, under the Statute of the Staple. However, from 1363, Calais was designated the staple port for wool and leather exports. All wool sold overseas was taken first to Calais, then under English control. Under this system, Calais itself was called 'the Staple'. The trade was dominated by the Merchants of the Staple who, from 1363, had been granted the exclusive right to trade raw wool in Calais. The system remained in place for nearly two centuries, though it would decline in importance as exports of finished cloth were substituted for exports of raw wool. With the fall of Calais to the French, in 1558, the staple moved again to Bruges. From 1617, wool exports were stopped entirely, and only domestic staples would remain in England. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 11 mins (2011-11-02 18:47:15 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/libraries/Heri... The Staple of England, Ireland and Wales was established in the late 13th century by Edward I. Under ordinances which were promulgated by that monarch in 1291, wool, leather and sheep-skins were designated as the 'staple', or basic, items of merchandise and these could be sold to foreign merchants only in named towns, which became known as 'staple towns'. Dublin was one of the three Irish staple towns nominated under the 1291 ordinances, the other two being Drogheda and Cork. These ordinances also contained detailed regulations governing trade and included an instruction to the wool merchants to elect a mayor for the staple. There is no available evidence to show to what extent the 1291 ordinances were put into effect in Dublin. In 1326 Edward II promulgated ordinances of the staple, which in effect confirmed those of his predecessor and extended the items listed as staple goods to include the tin of Cornwall. |
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